


Ribbons And Bows

by Hisa_Ai



Series: 31 Days of Christmas [11]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 31 Days of fic, Christmas, Christmas prompts, Day 11, Friendship, Prompt Fic, Ribbons and Bows, Yule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-11
Updated: 2013-12-11
Packaged: 2018-01-04 10:26:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisa_Ai/pseuds/Hisa_Ai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgana enlists Merlin and Arthur to help her and Gwen decorate her chambers with something she bought in the marketplace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ribbons And Bows

* * *

 

 

"Don't take this the wrong way, Morgana, but I think you were cheated," Arthur said with a note of distaste in his voice, eyebrows brought together as he inspected the basket sitting on her bed.

Morgana just shook her head at him, still grinning as she looked from Arthur to Merlin.  _Surely_ , Merlin would understand where she was coming from and what she wanted to do—he was much more understanding and accepting than Arthur, after all. Exchanging a look with Gwen as Merlin uncrossed his arms and approached the basket, rifled through it with curiosity as Arthur shot him a look, Morgana knew then that they would take up her request. Even if Arthur didn't quite want to. Merlin always  _could_  persuade him to do just about anything.

"I don't know, Arthur," Merlin shrugged at last, turning back to the prince with a long strand of satin ribbon in his hands. "I've heard talk down in the market of people doing this before. It's supposed to please the horned god when people do it," he shrugged again, dropping the ribbon back into the basket filled to the brim with numerous other fancy ribbons and pre-tied bows that Morgana had bought from a vendor in the market. He had claimed it was a Yule tradition among the people of far-off lands to decorate one's room with them.

If a fine young lady such as herself did it, he had told her, she was sure to have good fortune come Yule and have many wonderful things happen to her in the many months afterwards. She wasn't quite sure if she believed him, but she had bought the ribbons and bows nonetheless. They would look quite wonderful strung up in her chambers during the festivities that were fast approaching, after all, regardless of whether they did what he promised or not.

"Horned god?" Arthur asked in skepticism.

"The male equivalent of the Triple Goddess?"

"Wouldn't the  _Triple Goddess_  be more interested in the ribbons and girly things than the  _horned god?_  Shouldn't he be more into…? I don't know, hunting and sacrifices or something?"

"Well you can't very well expect Morgana and Gwen to go off hunting down defenseless animals just to please some god, now can you?"

"You think that'd be too hard for them to manage?"

"No, they could do it,  _and_  I'd be willing to bet they'd do a much better job of it than you, but they're too nice to go and pull something like that."

_"Mer_ lin…"

"What? I'm just saying, Gwen and Morgana are nicer than any bone in your body could ever hope to be."

"Well no one  _asked_   _you,_  now did they?"

Morgana rolled her eyes as the boys— _boys,_ she thought,  _not men by any standards_ —went on arguing about attitude and knowing one's place and whatever other odd thing they went off on a tangent about while she turned back to Gwen, walked to the basket with her to pull the soft, carefully cut and shaped bits of fabric out of it and spread it all out on her bed.

Arthur and Merlin could argue for days about which end of the horse you were supposed to stroke if they were left to their own devices for too long. But, if Merlin could distract Arthur long enough so he forgot why he was objecting to her request in the first place, it was worth letting them have their little row for a few minutes as she tried to decide which ribbons would look best strung from the canopy of her bed and which she might send home with Gwen to decorate her own home with.

She interrupted their fight then, which had escalated into Arthur holding Merlin in a headlock and Merlin jabbing away at him for his freedom with his pointy elbows and long fingers. With a roll of her eyes, she instructed them to straighten up and come help her string this from her canopy and pin that to the wall until half the day was gone and her room was decorated beautifully in a way that, never mind pleasing some  _god_ , pleased  _her_  very much.

Gwen gushed over how magnificent it looked when they stepped back to admire it and Arthur complained about how he'd missed a training session when he realized just how late in the day it truly was. Merlin rolled his eyes at him, hands on his hips as he admired their handiwork.

"Ignore him, Morgana; it actually looks really beautiful. Nice job on picking this up," he told her, nodding at the half-empty basket that she planned to send home with Gwen. She beamed at him, nodding her thanks as she walked back over to the basket. She dug through it and pulled out a deep red, velvety ribbon, walked over to him with it.

"I know Arthur might say it's rather girly, but here, Merlin, you should string this up in your room somewhere for good luck. It's the least I can do to thank you for sacrificing your afternoon to help us with this," she gestured around the room as she dropped the ribbon into his hands.

"That's because it  _is_  girly." Arthur grumbled.

"Oh come on, Arthur, girls love a guy who isn't afraid to show a little femininity every once in a while." Morgana teased him, shaking her head at his sullen, child-like expression.

"Oh, you know what? Maybe he's just jealous you didn't give  _him_  one." Gwen suggested.

"Is that it, Arthur? You want one of your own? I think I saw a nice blue one somewhere that would match your eyes," Merlin added, nodding towards the basket as he wove the ribbon through his scarf so he wouldn't lose it.

"I think that  _is_  it. Nice catch, you two. Gwen? Would you grab something that would go with Arthur's eyes? I'd hate for him to feel left out."

"Of course. Dark blue or light?"

"Oh, I don't know. Merlin, what do you think? Which would go better with his eyes?"

"There's a medium blue here that might work." Gwen grinned before he could answer.

"You could always give him black—you know, to match the color of his heart of coal." Merlin suggested.

"No, that's his soul you're thinking of." Morgana corrected, taking the medium blue ribbon that matched Arthur's eyes better than any of the rest they had left and draping it around the prince's neck as he seethed at them all, grumbling about everyone ganging up on him and how he was the prince and he didn't need to take this from a couple of girls _,_  let alone his own manservant. With a smirk, Morgana carefully tied the ribbon into a neat bow and straightened it into place, giggling as he turned out of her touch and stormed out of her room once he figured out what she had done, clearly having enough.

"That's the last time I help you with  _anything_ , Morgana!" He yelled back at her, though she barely heard him over the giggling fit herself, Merlin, and Gwen had fallen into at his expense.

A moment later, he yelled back for Merlin to stop fooling around with the girls and catch up on his chores for the day. But he wouldn't see Merlin for a good while longer, as he was much too busy wiping tears of laughter from his eyes with Gwen and Morgana.

 

* * *

 


End file.
